As of an hour ago I had a story almost ready to go for today, and then I got this strange e-mail that changed the topic of what I was going to cover today. The contents of the e-mail are posted below:
Facebook Password Security Alert
From: Facebook (password+mgayqqqn@facebookmail.com)
Sent: Tue 1/15/08 1:58 PM
Reply-to: Facebook (password+mgayqqqn@facebookmail.com)
To: Cody Eding (e-mail omitted)
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Hey Cody,
We have reset your Facebook account password for security reasons. You will need to use the link provided in this email to create a new, secure password for your account. In the future, please make sure that when you log in to Facebook, you always log in from a legitimate Facebook page with the facebook.com domain. To reset your password, follow the link below:
https://login.facebook.com/reset.php?... (link omitted for security reasons)
(If clicking on the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting it into your browser.)
Please contact info@facebook.com with any questions.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
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At first I figured it was a hoax. So I went to Facebook and tried to log in. No dice, my password was incorrect. So I looked at the e-mail closer and saw that the link does indeed point to a secure site. However, I still thought the facebookmail.com domain was fishy.
Instead of resetting the password through the e-mail I received, I went to Facebook’s home page and reset it from there. Low and behold the reset message came from facebookmail.com as well. I reset my password and now I can log back in. Weird.
First of all, I never realized that all Facebook e-mails came from facebookmail.com. So if you do get this e-mail it appears to be legit. Why they sent it to me is unknown. I will be sending them an e-mail to find out.
My guess is that they think somebody hacked my account and is spamming the system. Why? Because today is my birthday (#19… whoo) and I’ve gotten 40 wall posts in the last 15 hours, which is much more than my usual rate. In addition, I bet I’ve written 40 or so posts back. So I guess the system has a reason to think that a spammer might have taken hold of my account. Oh well, it’s fixed now, but it definitely scared the hell out of me (i.e. virus lockdown mode with all anti-virus and anti-spyware on deck).
I will post the results of my e-mail to Facebook when I receive an answer.
